1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image playback device and an image playback method, and in particular, to an image playback device and an image playback method which play-back photographed images of a specific place such as a station or the like on the line (route) of a railway or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional technique has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 10-233985) in which images photographed by a digital camera to which a GPS (Global Positioning System) device is connected are categorized efficiently by, on the basis of the GPS information obtained by the GPS device such as position information or time information or the like, reading desired map data from a recording medium which stores map data, and displaying on a monitor an electronic map including the photographed (shot) place.
Further, JP-A No. 2002-29422 proposes the following technique: a map of railway lines is displayed as an image; a large number of search points are set as regions on the displayed railway line map; and a large number of railway line section maps are provided which have data obtained by the measured data of the regions being made into and displayed as images in accordance with the positions of the search points. When a given point on the railway line map, which is displayed as an image, is designated by a pointing device or a cursor, it is judged which of the search points, which are set as regions, that coordinate is. The railway line section map of the position which corresponds to the search point obtained in accordance with this judgment is displayed as an image.
Railway companies and the like, which serve residents daily, have stored and recorded, as photographs, the changing state of the landscape from the past through the present in the vicinities of the stations on their lines. Not only are these photographs being used in preparing the company histories of the railway companies and the like, but they are also being released to the residents in those regions. This is a business service being provided from a business organization to the residents living in new cities or regions along railway lines which have developed as transit systems have developed, or is being carried out as a public relations measure to promote the features of that city or region along the railway line to others so as to aim for increased activity in the region. In this way, there have been ongoing movements to foster, with the residents of a region, affinity toward that region, and accordingly, attachment to the locality. Thus, image playback devices are desired which can accumulate images which have been photographed from the past through the present at respective stations along a railway line or the like, and which can be used in applications such as, for example, displaying the amounts of accumulated images of each era at each station. Such an image playback device can, for example, prepare a history of localities along a railway line at a railway company or the like, compile a company history, be used at events such as the commemoration of so many years of development of a new city, and the like.
However, the technique disclosed in JP-A No. 10-233985 displays thumbnail images at the positions of the places where the images were photographed. The technique disclosed in JP-A No. 2002-29422 displays inspected and measured data of search points on a railway line. Neither of these techniques can be used in applications such as, for example, displaying, in the order of eras, images which have been photographed from the past through the present in vicinities of respective stations on a railway line, or the like.